How you can complain

Your completed complaint form will be directed to the Customer Relations Team, who will liaise with the service team to resolve your complaint at the earliest opportunity.

However, if we are unable to resolve it, we will deal with the matter as a formal complaint and send you an acknowledgement with a reference number.

The Council has a two stage complaints procedure, as follows:

Stage 1

The Head of Service will investigate and respond to your complaint within 15 working days.

Stage 2

When you receive the response to your Stage 1 complaint you are not satisfied that the team has dealt with your complaint properly, you may request a review at Stage 2. The Director of the service will carry out a review of your complaint and respond to you within 20 working days. When making a Stage 2 complaint, we ask that you explain to us in what way you believe that your complaint was not addressed properly at Stage 1.

If you cannot provide any reasons as to why the findings are wrong, we may not consider your complaint at the next stage.

However it should be noted that our complaints process is discretionary and not based on statute. This means we do not always have to proceed with a complaint if we believe there is sufficient justification not to do so. You will, however, still have the right to seek an independent review by the Local Government Ombudsman.

Once your complaint has completed the Council’s complaints process, if you remain dissatisfied you may request an independent review by the Local Government Ombudsman (or the Housing Ombudsman if you are a Council tenant or leaseholder). The Ombudsman’s details are as follows: